Individual differences in counterfactual production

Previous research has found that mixed-handers more so than strong-handers can maintain multiple and oftentimes opposing representations simultaneously. Because of this, mixed-handers demonstrate greater Stroop interference and better appreciate visual paradoxes. The current study was designed to extend this work into the area of counterfactual production. Specifically, 126 undergraduate students at a small midwestern university were asked to read, one at a time, 4 scenarios (two with positive and two with negative outcomes) and generate as many alternative-action outcome sequences (i.e., counterfactuals) as they could in 5 min. The results indicated that mixed-handers generated significantly more upward and downward counterfactuals than strong-handers, confirming our prediction. This finding lends additional support to the notion that strength of handedness predicts one’s level of interhemispheric interconnectivity and suggests that mixed- and strong-handers may show differences in a variety of decision making phenomena related to counterfactualizing such as hindsight bias and decision regret.